|
@#%&*! Smilers | 
 enlarge
| Artist: Aimee Mann
Label: Superego Records
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $9.75
You Save: $7.23 (43%)
New (55) from $9.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  57 reviews
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.3
UPC: 698519002624
EAN: 0698519002624
Release Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Tracks:
| • | Freeway | | • | Stranger into Starman | | • | Looking for Nothing | | • | Phoenix | | • | Borrowing Time | | • | It's Over | | • | 31 Today | | • | The Great Beyond | | • | Medicine Wheel | | • | Columbus Avenue | | • | Little Tornado | | • | True Believer | | • | Ballantines |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk
Despite that unwieldy, rather craven title, @#%&! Smilers has already been acclaimed by some critics as the best record in Aimee Mann's long career. Few fans will be disappointed. The opening "Freeway" may be built around a fairly slight play on words ("you got a lot of money but you can't afford the freeway" goes the chorus) but the nagging melody and expansive synth-laden arrangement, reminiscent of her East Coast counterparts and fellow suburban critics Fountains of Wayne, is nigh on irresistible. "Stranger Into Starman" is a mere snippet, and all the better for its brevity, while "Looking For Nothing" is a perfect example of the southern Californian blankness Mann has captured for years now. The lush, orchestrated country-rock of "Phoenix" rhymes the title with "Kleenex" and truly captures the mood of someone leaving for good. Sean Hayes sounds uncannily like a boozy Antony Hegarty on the deceptively jolly closer "Ballantines," named for a whisky, while author Dave Eggers picks up a credit for his rather good "whistling" on the gloomy, undeniably pretty "Little Tornado." The painfully detailed "Thirty One Today," a distant memory for Mann, is another successful attempt to voice dissatisfaction. Only the chirpy horns on the admonishing "Borrowing Time" actually lighten the mood. Smilers is an excellent record, cleverly thought out throughout. But the smiles here are rueful at best -- Steve Jelbert
Album Description
Limited edition book packaging of her 2008 album, Aimee's seventh solo release to date. The album is a return to form after the artistic detours of 2005's concept album The Forgotten Arm and 2006's Christmas CD One More Drifter in the Snow. Featuring thirteen new original songs, producer Paul Bryan describes the record as "deceptively powerful...very rich and grand-sounding." The songs range from the stripped-down-to-basics of "Columbus Avenue," to the almost Cars-esque synth-pop of "Freeway," alongside the classic Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell-era "Phoenix," and the hushed creepiness of "Little Tornado." The final song "Ballantines" is a duet with Sean Hayes complete with barroom piano and trombone section. All songs were penned by Mann with the exception of "True Believer" which was co-written with fellow singer-songwriter Grant Lee Phillips.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 52 more reviews...
 Another Excellent Release from Aimee Mann June 4, 2008
51 out of 60 found this review helpful
Couldn't disagree more with the couple of folks who say this is "more of the same" from Aimee Mann, and who have given the album 3 stars (and sounds like, from their reviews, they're just bitter over a few extra tracks used to promote the album on I-Tunes).
"More of the same" (Whatever, IWS, Bachelor #2, Lost In Space, The Forgotten Arm) would be enviable by any other singer/songwriter. Mann's been nominated for Grammy's, Golden Globe, Academy Award (Mr. Oscar), and has literally been on most year end top ten album lists with each of the releases already mentioned. I'll take more of the same from Mann any day of the week.
Smilers is indeed "more of the same" in terms of quality songwriting. There's not a throwaway track on Smilers (which consists of 13 tracks). The folks moaning about Itunes having 2 extra live tracks and 1 bonus studio track? If the rest of the album was so disappointing, then it's unusual that one would clamor for live versions of 2 songs they already have, and 1 "more of the same" studio track. Aimee's self-described bitter album was I'm With Stupid......maybe these fans are stuck in that period of her work .
Smilers opens with Freeway, a song that has a sound not unlike something the Cars (the band) would have written in the 70s. I can't recall another Aimee Mann solo album with anything that sounds remotely like the Cars - but there's a coupla tracks on Smilers, due to the use of moog synths as a replacement for the electric guitar (another first on an Aimee release, even counting til tuesday).
Smilers also marks the first time I can recall that Aimee has used a brass section, which she uses on a number of the songs here to great effect. If she's used brass in the past, none of the songs on Smilers brings any of her past songs to mind. Momentum (the b-side to That's Just What You Are and also on the Magnolia soundtrack) has a playfulness that I suppose one could compare, but still sounds nothing like these new songs.
There's also the use of strings on songs like Phoenix (a personal favorite) as well as It's Over (another favorite). Phoenix is another hallmark Mann composition that really captures the essence of what the character in the song is feeling. This is accomplished without an ounce of melodrama. Her vocals are equal parts regret, resignation, and relief. Listening to this track is like being in the back seat of the character's car and empathizing as if you're right there.
I could go over every song on the album but I won't. It's an excellent album.
I've been a fan of Mann's since I was 16 (1986) with the release of Welcome Home. For me, most of her albums alternate between surprising me with how much she's grown from, say, the previous release, OR, strike me as strong continuations/explorations of the types of songs she's known for - but they never feel like repeats. For me, Smilers is another jump forward and is easily a "five star" album.
 Sounds like previous albums, and "special edition" has no extra music. June 3, 2008
18 out of 54 found this review helpful
I really dig Aimee Mann, in general. But this new album sounds like "Whatever," "Bachelor No. 2" and "Lost in Space" all rolled into one "I've Heard This Before" album. Mann does nothing really new here; she seems cozily tucked into her safe zone, which makes for some sleepy, uninteresting music. Sure, there are okay songs, but they don't say anything Mann hasn't said many times before and in more provocative ways. It's an okay album, just a disappointment, becuase I know Mann's music well enough to expect better from her.
Note that the "Special Edition" has NO EXTRA MUSIC than the regular release, just a fancier package. Kind of a bummer, since iTunes has outtakes and bonus tracks that one would assume would be released on the special edition, but no. But since Aimee Mann won her one Grammy for CD packaging, I guess she believes the CD package is her strong-suit and has allowed the music to suffer accordingly. Plus, fans have to buy the entire album on iTunes to get bonus songs not available anywhere else. It would have been a cool courtesy to fans for Mann to include the bonus songs on this "special" CD, but there's no extra music of any kind anywhere. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
A real snoozer of an album.
Some say it's a "return to form;" I say it's bloody brilliant as usual! June 5, 2008
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
I admit: I've loved every last thing the wonderful and peerless Aimee Mann has done since 'Til Tuesday. There's little doubt in my mind that she's a melodic and lyric genius, even if we bandy about the term "genius" a little too loosely. It all seems to come so easy to her, and there's an intoxicating brilliance about her every move. Seeing her live is heavenly.
All that having been said, her new album is yet another treasure. You cannot but be wowed by the understated beauty of, let's say, "31 Today" or the stuck-in-your-head-and-you-don't-care quality of "Freeway." Buy without hesitation. The whole thing is delicious.
Typical...good...but typical June 3, 2008
8 out of 17 found this review helpful
It pains me to write it, but Aimee Mann's style is getting tired. I thought that her last album, "The Forgotten Arm", was very good - and highly underrated mind you - but this record sounds like hardly any original effort was put into it at all; what I mean by that is, that it does not by any means sound like Mann is attempting to progress or pour her heart into something fresh. I have been a fan of Mann's since "I'm With Stupid", and although I find "Freeway", "Looking for Something", "Borrowing Time" and other cuts to be quite rhythmically enticing, I can already tell that I'll be sick of them in a week - especially "Freeway". The rest of the album is decent, but that's it - decent. None of the tracks have the power of those on "Bachelor #2" or "Lost In Space". I have listened through it about seven times now and I doubt that my opinion of it will change with time, although I hope that it does.
I would also like to comment on the heavy use of backing synthesizers on this record - I don't like them. Mann could have used synths to do something creative but instead we get a product that sounds far too poppy. The guts and brawn of her previous records is missing here. I always appreciated the catchiness of her choruses, but again, on this record we get something that sounds like a second-rate Aimee Mann imitator instead of the real deal.
I do not propose that my reader should not purchase this album; Aimee Mann fans will have already bought it and are likely reading these reviews to see what other fans think of the record, but to those of you who are new to Mann, please, start with "Bachelor #2" for a better representation of what Mann is capable of. Again, this is a good record, but it doesn't evoke the emotive response that previous albums have - at least for me. It is, if I may say, "overproduced" and I doubt that it will stand the test of time. I am waiting for an Aimee Mann record that defines a new epoch in her songwriting capabilities - this is not that record.
I expect a lot from my favorite musicians, and I believe that I have a right to. It is difficult to stand apart from the drudge that stands for contemporary music in this day and age, and Aimee Mann has what it takes - she has already proven that to her fans. Hopefully her next album will sound more inspired than this one. Cuts such as "Little Tornado" and "Columbus Avenue" have a lot of potential, but instead of striking the listener at a gut level, they merely linger. "The Forgotten Arm" had powerful slow moving cuts like "Little Bombs" and "Video", which is what makes similar sounding tracks on this album such a frustrating listen at times.
my hero June 9, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Why am I so surprised that this record is so good?
Maybe it's that so much of modern life seems so fake and so hyped.
"Smilers" is the "real deal", classy craft on-the-hoof without the smoke and mirrors.
Aimee makes it look easy too.
I like every single song on "Smilers" but my favorites (this week) are "Little Tornado", "Phoenix" and "Columbus Avenue".
Try it.
|
|
|
|
2005-2007 Zone1electronics All rights reserved.
| |
